Digimon, Digital Arena
by shanejayell
Summary: Rika returns to the digital arena with a new Digimon....
1. Digital Birth

Digimon, Digital Arena: Digital Birth

"Grandmother, I'm home," Rika Nonaka called as she entered, her short red hair a bit messy from the wind. She slipped her shoes off one handed, clutching a black plastic case in the other, then walked down the hallway to her room.

"Did you get what you wanted at the store?" her grandmother called.

"No," Rika answered at the door, "but my programmer friend Henry thinks he's rigged up a patch that should work."

Her grandmother sounded amused, "Let me know when you're finished, I'm looking forward to meeting her."

With a chuckle Rika entered her bedroom, closing the door with the heel of her foot as she pulled her jacket off. Her grandmother was almost as into Digimon as she was, and she was certainly more into technology than Rika was. Posters decorated all four of her walls, but unlike most teens they were of the champion Digimon and their tamers, the stars of gameplay over the past decade. Hanging it up on a hook by the door she padded across the blue carpet to her desk, flipping up the terminal screen even as she sat down.

"All right," Rika murmured to herself as she logged on, opening up the design program and her files, "let's get to work."

The image on the screen began with just a simple wire-frame, representing the basic operating programs of a Digimon. Rika Nonaka gazed at it a moment as she thought, then the redheaded young woman bent forward to begin typing away as she set the parameters. The body lengthened, proportions shifting, then she began to pop discs into her computer's drive, downloading the programs she had been working on for the past few months.

Most of the players in Digimon, Digital Arena purchased a fully made Digimon construct at one of the licensed stores, then used various legal and not-so-legal 'mods' to upgrade and improve them to make the Digimon unique. You could purchase anything from armor, special abilities or even unique changes to the appearance such as clothes or color changes.

Rika herself had started with a simple vampire called Nightstalker when she first began, using the points she got from her early wins to help upgrade the sexy looking female Digimon. Using her tactical skills and hard research on her foes Rika had went from the beginners right to the serious players and then won a few regional championships. Then she had made nationals, winning the prize for three years in a row...

"It got so predictable that I had to quit," Rika admitted to herself as she studied her work, "that, or die of boredom."

The Digimon was going to be tall, her orange fur covering the foxlike body except for the white that marked her middle and the expressive triangle shaped head. Her hands were two fingered with an opposable thumb, the paws of her feet large to allow for leverage and maneuverability. Standing there on the screen she looked oddly serene, like she was meditating.

An idea struck Rika and she dug through her pile of disks, finding the one she wanted. With a few keystrokes bracers appeared on the arms and legs, marked with the yin-yang symbol from Chinese philosophy. Of course most of Rika's programming wasn't visible yet, relating to the Digimon's attacks and her personality subroutines, including a new randomizer to make her answers and actions a bit more unpredictable than normal.

Most Digimon were simply designed as interactive pets, with very limited capabilities. Many had vocabularies of fifty words or less, and some couldn't even speak at all, mostly due to decisions made by their trainers. The official rules said that a Digimon program could only be a certain maximum size, and that all mods and upgrades had to function within that level, so language was often sacrificed for added combat capability.

"Not my style," Rika muttered as she took the hand held Digivice and connected it to her laptop, then hit the final key.

The image of the new Digimon almost seemed to fold in on herself, the simple egg icon appearing as the system compiled, formatting the Digimon over onto the drive of the Digivice. A masterpiece of miniature holographic technology the Digivice provided direct interactivity with the Digimon, either projecting a miniature Digimon you could carry with you, or plugged into a projection unit like one in the Arena to create a life-size version.

"Digimon program download complete," the device's automatic notification said even as it connected to the internet, swiftly accessing the central Digimon registry as it continued, "please register the Digimon's name."

"Renamon," with a steady hand Rika typed in the name she had decided on weeks ago, then she watched as the egg icon dramatically cracked open, the Digivice projecting the very first holographic image of her new Digimon.

Renamon looked up at Rika from her position on the Digivice, her expression thoughtful as she asked, "Are you my trainer?"

"Yes, I am," Rika answered before introducing herself then looking at her new creation, taking in the smooth grace of the figure as she bowed gracefully.

Going down on one knee like some warrior of old pledging allegiance Renamon said, "It will be an honor to fight for you."

Rika blinked in surprise at the unexpected formality as Renamon rose again then she felt herself begin to smile, "I think I'm looking forward to this, too." Taking the Digivice in her hand she walked over to her wall, plugging it into the projector that she had bought for her room, a life size Renamon materializing before her.

Renamon had a smile on her face, standing nearly a foot taller than Rika with her slim body standing casually in the middle of the room. "Should I really be taller than you?" Renamon asked curiously, a twinkle in her eyes.

'Henry definitely had a hand in her personality subroutines,' Rika thought, wondering how much of that irreverence that Renamon would show. "It should be fine," she smiled, "besides, it could be a psychological factor with other tamers in the Arena."

Renamon nodded thoughtfully, digesting the information, "Of course, Rika."

It was incredible how real Renamon looked, standing there. The powerful room projector made her look solid, no traces of distortion or pixilation on the edges of her form. Of course the details that Rika had chosen to add into the program helped, the movement of the fur and the facial expressions helping complete the illusion.

Renamon looked around, her eyes narrowing as she saw some of the other Digimon on the posters around the room. "Those are competitors?" she asked thoughtfully.

"Some of them," Rika nodded, "though others have either retired from the game or fallen off of the top ranks." A smile, "It'll be interesting to face them again."

"You fought them in the past?" Renamon got it quickly, "With another Digimon."

"Yes," Rika admitted, "with Nightstalker, my first Digimon partner."

"Nightstalker," Renamon looked curious, "what did he look like?"

"She, actually," Rika said. She rummaged through a shelf of models and a few trophies, eventually coming up with a humanoid figure. The woman looked mostly human, batlike wings stretching from her back as a mane of green hair flowed down.

"She's beautiful," Renamon surprised Rika again by saying that. Looking down into Rika's eyes she asked, "Why is she no longer your partner?"

"Nightstalker and I made it right to the top in our second year of competing in Digital Area," Rika remembered, "but it quickly got boring." A short pause and she added seriously, "And she hit a wall. You see, I had built Nightstalker from a kit-program, almost completed before I started, and there were in-built limitations in how far she could advance."

"What happened to her?" Renamon sounded only curious.

"I sold her core program to a on-line Digital Arena game," Rika smiled slightly, "this way her program stays active and I didn't have to delete her."

"You didn't want to delete her? But Nightstalker was just a program," Renamon said quietly.

"Maybe, but she meant something to me," Rika answered firmly.

"I'm glad," Renamon surprised her with a smile.

'Is this all from the randomizer,' Rika wondered, 'or...?'

There was a knock on the door and almost instantly Rika's Grandmother opened the door, "Rika, I..." She trailed off, blinked at Renamon in surprise, "Oh my."

"Grandmother, meet Renamon," Rika smiled.

"An honor, madam," Renamon bowed her head respectfully.

Watching Renamon charm her grandmother so effortlessly Rika had to hide a smile. 'Yes,' she thought, 'this is going to be interesting.'

To be continued...


	2. A Champion Returns

Digimon, Digital Arena: A Champion Returns

The symbol appeared on the television screen first, the Digimon egg on a open field. It cracked open dramatically, computer generated animated figures spilling out onto the field, the various creatures and humanoids scattering before lining up to do battle once again.

The scene shifted to the real life arena, roaring crowds of teens ad adults filling the stands as they watched the lit up battle field far below them. The announcer's voice boomed out from the control room, "Welcome young and old, Digimon and trainer, to the latest season of Digimon Arena!"

Standing beside the arena in the area set aside for trainers the redheaded girl tried to tune our everything around her, instead focusing all of her attention on her digivice. The palm sized electronic module was plugged into her laptop computer, and she typed away intently, simple sunglasses hiding her green eyes. Finally she disconnected the cord, winding up into the computer before standing up, stretching out calmly.

Rika Nonaka pressed a small switch on the side of the digivice even as she softly said, "How are you, Renamon?"

Flaring to life from the curved screen a small holographic image appeared, barely a foot tall, standing with a relaxed sort of capability. The fox was humanoid, a tall and lean female who was garbed only with simple bracers and leggings, her triangular head oddly expressive as she gazed up at Rika calmly. "I'm fine, Rika," Renamon answered warmly. She tilted her head to the side, "How does the competition look this time?"

"Strictly second raters," Rika answered with a wry smile, "but we were expecting that."

"I won't underestimate them," Renamon answered gravely, "I want to win this for you."

Rika smiled faintly, "Thanks."

On the screens at home the announcer was running through a short explanation of Digimon Arena. "Using the latest in holographic imaging Digimon and their tamers fight side by side against their foes in a variety of virtual environments, striving for the championship." Cheerfully he continued, "We've got a great crowd of tamers today, and we're looking forward to a hell of a fight!"

The image on the screen shifted, a cocky black haired young man showing up on the screen. "Rio has become a local champion with his vampire-Digimon, Mysotismon," he explained. Scenes of the black, almost vampire like humanoid tearing through Digimon appeared, destroying them before absorbing all of their data.

"Takato had become something of a menace," a brown haired boy appeared on screen, over-large goggles on this head, "using effective card-play along with his Digimon Growlmon to rise through the ranks of community battles." A dramatic pause, "But how his skills will fare on the regional levels remain to be seen."

Rika snorted. "Card-play," she shook her head, "from what I've seen he has just collected as many powerful offensive cards as possible and swipes them like mad."

"Then I'll enjoy defeating him," Renamon said simply.

Rika paused a second, smiling at hearing that unexpected response. A Digimon was programmed and created by it's tamer, some buying premade designs and modifying them while more ambitious users built their Digimon from the ground up. Rika fell into that second category, but unlike most she hadn't built entirely for combat capability... she had built Renamon a personality, too. Combined with the randomizing element of data absorption from other Digimon it caused Renamon to evolve, developing in ways that Rika still found surprising,

Rika tuned out the other introductions, instead looked up to where a Arena official was walking over to where she stood. Her long brown hair fell past her shoulders as she smiled tentatively and asked, "Miss Nonaka?"

"Riley," Rika read off the nametag the woman was wearing.

"It's good to meet you," Riley nodded shyly. She hesitated, "I know you're a past Digimon champion, but..."

"I haven't competed in several years." Rika said crisply, "I'll have to work my way up through the ranks just like any newcomer."

"Thank you for being so understanding," Riley smiled warmly.

"I don't like it," Rika said frankly, "but I'll manage."

"A champion like Rika shouldn't have to wait," Renamon agreed.

"How cute," Riley squealed as she bent over to gaze at the Renamon hologram, "you even gave her interactive personality upgrades."

Renamon met Riley's gaze disapprovingly, "Do not condescend to me, madam."

Riley jerked back in surprise, her expression shocked. Rika had to fight back a smile, "I'll be ready when they call on me."

"You'll be in one of the first matches," Riley was still looking rather warily at Renamon, "they'll give a short bio before you go on."

"Lovely," Rika sighed.

The other tamers looked at Rika with a degree of caution, but that really didn't bother her much. Back in her competitive days she had been nearly ruthless in her tactics, even using mindgames to help unnerve her opponents. Apparently her reputation preceded her.

Rika sat down, watching a match on the nearby viewscreen. Apparently some kid named Davis was fighting with a Vemon, but he was getting slaughtered. The v-headbutt wasn't that bad of an attack, but you had to get into close range to actually use it. All the Goblinmon he was fighting had to do was keep his distance and fire goblin punches and the fight was pretty much over.

"Poor Davis," the light brown haired girl beside her murmured, looking on as Vemon got pummled. She looked over at Rika, "What would you do?"

"Use a speed or armor digi-modify card," Rika answered promptly. "Speed if he's farther away and needs to close the distance, armor if he's already near enough to strike."

"I agree," she nodded. She smiled at Rika and offered her had, "My name is Hikaru."

"Nice to meet you Hikaru," Rika noted the catlike Digimon on Hikaru's digivice and smiled, "I see you have Gatomon."

"Hi," the cat waved, her white gloves shiny clean.

Hikaru peered at Renamon then looked apologetically at Rika, "I hate to say it but I don't think I've seen that Digimon before."

"That's because I created her from scratch," Rika confessed, "meet Renamon."

"It's an honor," Renamon bowed her head, a slight smile teasing her lips.

There was a booming sound, and both looked up to see Davis' Vemon be destroyed. "Wonder who's up next," Hikaru murmured.

"Three years ago undefeated Digimon champion Rika Nonaka walked away from the arena, and for a long time we thought she might never return," the announcer declared grandly. "But now Rika has returned to the arena, with both a new Digimon and a new attitude! Let's welcome back the Goddess of Victory, Rika Nonaka!"

"Oh GOD," Rika moaned at the overdone introduction.

"Good luck," Hikaru waved as Rika headed up to the arena itself.

"I don't need luck," Rika answered, "but thanks."

"Are you ready, Rika?" Renamon asked as Rika detached her digivice, hooking it in to the arena projectors. In a moment a full-sized Renamon appeared on the area floor, well over six feet tall and full of strength and vitality.

"More than ready," Rika answered.

Across from them Takato plugged in his own digivice, his dinosaur like Digimon Growlmon materializing. Rika's digivice finished it's basic scan in seconds, information on the Digimon they faced appearing on the screen. Data scrolled by, information on what Growlmon was, the capabilities that came with his basic configurations.

"No modifications," Renamon noted, "barely advanced in level too."

"I bet we can take him in less than a minute," Rika smirked.

"Digimon, ready?" the announcer asked. There was a moment's pause, "Go!"

"Attack, Renamon," Rika commanded.

With unearthly speed Renamon was gone, racing across the floor right to where Growlmon stood. She leapt up, hand-paws in front of her then cried, "Diamond Storm!" In barely a moment Growlmon looked like a pin-cushion, diamond-like shards imbedded in him, then he simply was gone, dissolving into data pixels.

There was a moment of shocked silence, then the crowd roared it's approval.

"I won the battle for you, Rika," Renamon said simply.

"We'll get to the championships together, Renamon," Rika vowed, "that I promise."

End.

This was originally going to be a direct crossover with Angelic Layer, but I decided to just use elements of it instead. The idea of Digimon being holograms seemed fun, so I went with that. This may also be one of the few mini-fics I've written with almost no shoujo-ai in it... I do plan to add a bit more to this, too.


End file.
